To end 2021, the Work of the Month chosen was Previsora (tempera on panel, 210 x 300 cm, 2021), by Douglas Perez Castro. It is the high light of his exhibition Futurama at Maxima gallery, open to the public until January 2022.
Previsora holds a fascinating history, a history that sometimes remains somewhat forgotten and forgotten, but which the artist brings to the present with great warmth. Every detail is decorous in the painting, the smallest and imperceptible detail seems to be thought out to the point of satiety, to the point of exhaustion, to perfection.
Previsora's sky is not blue or with white clouds, but with shades of yellow and orange, permeated with exoticism. Around it orbit planets and satellites to warn us that we are in a rare and exquisite area.
Below, in the center and the lower part of the painting, comes normality, the known, the simple and the routine. Windows, stained glass, lawns, chambers and insects fill the pictorial scenes of a dwelling that seems indestructible in the face of time. Its construction was so successful that even in a country with little capacity for remodeling individual dwellings or buildings, the house retains its beauty, uniqueness and wonder.
Douglas Perez Castro reminds us of the past of this home: "The unexpected discovery of an extraordinary model of architectural elegance. It is the concrete cornice of the domestic house concept developed by Francisco Balliciergo and his architectural firm for the Banco de Capitalización y Ahorro Previsora Latino Americana S.A., established in the early 1930s as an important provider of capitalization camps for tenants all over the island" 1.
As we are in the presence of a double creative content, the one recreated by the artist and the architecture of the house itself, the author of the painting conceived the work in nine large panels that function as a puzzle to assemble an exclusive fabric. This is how Pérez Castro remembers it: "Under the eaves, an impeccable duplex aluminum light fixture, with a unidirectional hood, which will cover areas of the garden (...) Such a rich inheritance here leaves us José Canaves and his construction company S.A., that oh! It will only perpetuate in time, for the enjoyment of future generations" 2.
In addition to the painting, a catalog of the work was printed with the same number of panels. We are talking about small postcards with the history of the house on the back of the image. The viewer can then construct the puzzle, make his own imaginary of the story shown and read the content thought by Douglas in the desired way. There are no archetypes for knowledge in Previsora, there is only the desire to learn and nothing more.
At the entrance of Maxima gallery, the spectator will find on his right the Work of the Month (December 2021). He will be surprised by the exquisite technique of the artist, his care with color, the excellence of the pictorial language he has used, showing once again that the art of Douglas Perez Castro deserves a thousand opportunities of readings and thoughts.
1 Excerpt from publication not yet edited for the consumer who will note that the fees of his contribution will be exempt from any kind of co-payments.
2 Excerpt from "The Declaration of Gloria", by Banco de Capitalization and Savings Bank Previsora Latino Americana S.A. for the elegant neighborhoods of Havana.
Published on 12/27/2021